This invention pertains to a protective hood, as worn by a firefighter or an emergency worker, of a type having an upper head-covering section, an anterior head-covering section, a posterior head-covering section, and a lower neck-covering and shoulder-covering section. Commonly, such a hood is worn by a firefighter, who may be inadvertently exposed to water at high pressure from a fire hose or to potentially injurious heat from a fire.
Protective hoods of the type noted above are exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,972,520, 5,090,054, and 5,873,132, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, and are available commercially from Morning Pride Manufacturing, L.L.C. of Dayton, Ohio.
As exemplified in those patents, protective hoods have respective head-covering and shoulder-covering portions made from similar, comparatively heavier, thermally insulative material, except that upper head-covering portions are made from comparatively lighter material, such as mesh or netting, which allows thermal energy to pass readily.
In the protective hood illustrated and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/136,564, supra, the anterior head-covering section is made from comparatively heavier, thermally insulative material, whereas the upper head-covering section and the other sections, or a selected one of the other sections, are made from similar, comparatively lighter material, such as mesh or netting, whereby to allow heat to pass readily through those sections made from comparatively lighter material.
Protective hoods of related interest are exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,217 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,065.
Broadly, this invention contemplates that in protective hood having an upper head-covering section, which when the protective hood is worn covers an upper portion of a wearer""s head, an anterior head-covering section, which when the protective hood is worn covers an anterior portion of the wearer""s head, the anterior head-covering section having a window, through which portions of the wearer""s face are exposed when the protective hood is worn, a posterior head-covering section, which when the protective hood is worn covers a posterior portion of the wearer""s head, and a lower neck-covering and shoulder-covering section, which when the protective hood is worn covers portions of the wearer""s shoulders, the lower neck-covering and shoulder-covering section differs from each of the other sections in thermal insulation properties, and moisture barrier properties, or in one or two of those properties.
Preferably, the lower neck-covering and shoulder-covering section has plural layers, which may include a moisture barrier layer. In a preferred embodiment, those layers include an outer abrasion-resistant layer and an inner moisture barrier layer and, moreover, may include an intermediate thermally insulative layer.